The new documentary "Gideon’s Army" follows a group of young public defenders in the Deep South who contend with low pay, long hours and staggering caseloads to represent the poor. The film’s title comes from the landmark 1963 Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright that established the right to counsel to defendants in criminal cases who are unable to afford their own attorneys. We’re joined by...

In an inaugural address many saw as a blueprint for a more progressive second-term domestic agenda than his first, President Obama vowed a continued fight for equality of women and for the rights of gays and lesbians, to push for immigration reform and gun control, to address income inequality, and to tackle the warming of the planet. Also speaking on the National Mall were Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights activist Medgar...

As the new year approaches, North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue is being urged to pardon a group of civil rights activists who were falsely convicted and imprisoned 40 years ago for the firebombing of a white-owned grocery store. Their conviction was overturned in 1980, but the state has never pardoned them. We’re joined by one of the "Wilmington Ten," longtime civil rights activist Benjamin Chavis, who served eight years behind...

Once-secret documents reveal the FBI monitored Occupy Wall Street from its earliest days and treated the nonviolent movement as a potential terrorist threat. Internal government records show Occupy was treated as a potential threat when organizing first began in August of 2011. Counterterrorism agents were used to track Occupy activities, despite the internal acknowledgment that the movement opposed violent tactics. The monitoring expanded...

As 2013 approaches, marking the 50th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington, we spend the hour with one of the last surviving speakers from that day: Civil rights icon, now 13-term Georgia Congressmember, John Lewis. During the 1960s, Rep. Lewis was arrested more than 40 times and beaten almost to death as he served as chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, marched side by side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,...

Early voting begins in North Carolina on Thursday, nearly two months before Election Day. Once again, the state is seen as a key battleground state. In 2008, President Obama won the state becoming the first Democrat to do so since Jimmy Carter in 1976. We’re joined by Rev. Dr. William Barber, a grassroots leader deeply involved in the fight to preserve voting rights in North Carolina and to mobilize unregistered voters. Barber is...

The Justice Department has ordered Florida, a likely key swing state in the 2012 election, to end a controversial voter purge that has primarily targeted Latino, Democratic and independent-minded voters. The Justice Department says the process had not been cleared under the Voting Rights Act. Some Democratic politicians have expressed fear the purge could help Mitt Romney win the state in November. "What we’ve seen in Florida is an...

In a groundbreaking decision, the First Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), ruling the federal government can’t deny benefits to same-sex couples in states such as Massachusetts where same-sex couples can legally marry. The ruling will likely now be appealed and be brought before the Supreme Court. We speak to Marc Solomon, national campaign director of "Freedom to Marry," one of...

Benjamin Jealous, the president and CEO of the NAACP, joins us to react to the new audio recordings and documents released in the investigation of Trayvon Martin’s killing. The evidence indicates a fight occurred between Martin and his alleged killer George Zimmerman, but police determined the deadly encounter was "ultimately avoidable" if Zimmerman had not pursued Martin. An autopsy also shows Martin died from a single gunshot...